...of an X at Cayo Costa (Pelican Bay by Charlotte Harbor, FL) today and it was probably taken yesterday. I've never seen the boat, but it looks like it is now a trawler. It has quite a bow pulpit now.
I'll bet we see more and more X's and later M's being converted like this. I think it makes sense for the right person and can give someone a relatively cheap trawler that can go about anywhere and on not much gas if one adds a second 8-10 HP outboard,
Add fiberglass console attached at the mast foot and on latches where the winches are currently. Add canvass cockpit and console enclosure.
Delete the chainplates, winches, tracks, daggerboard, rudders, sliding hatch, and companionway door, ballast gate, captain's seat, and cockpit helm.
Install hydraulic steering on the same helm assembly on the cabin top just abaft the mast foot area and atop the daggerboard slot, covering it. Install captain's chair. The daggerboard slot supports the helm and captain's chair.
Bolt ladder rungs to port and starboard forward cabin area next to companionway for easy access to the captain's chair. Replace sliding hatch with fixed 2' high "settee" behind the captain's chair. Crew can sit here, and it makes the companionway opening much larger.
Install permanent ballast sufficient to ensure the higher captain's console cannot capsize the boat.
With a 9.9 hp motor, you'd have a "26T" that costs less than a 26M with a 60HP ETEC--certainly the least expensive full cabin fishing trawler on the market. And the factory doesn't have to do anything differently in terms of manufacture other than how the hulls are built-out. This is already a manual process for MacGregor and would be trivial to add to the product line.
Also consider that they wouldn't have to build out boats as a "T" model until they had a sale, so there's little to no risk.
Probably Roger has no intrest in the fishing market, but if I owned the company, I'd certainly take it on as an additional product. A big part of Roger's brilliance is in manufacturing only one model at a time to exploit mass production efficiencies. But I'd sure as heck address as many different markets with a single hull as I possibly could.
OK for freshwater lakes,no serious fisherman would use such a narrow beam boat in an ocean,rocks way to much side to side and would be way to dangerous handling knives lures and hooks in such tight quarters. when i catch a small 20 pound mahi i make all passengers go below until fish is dead.
It's a good point, but having gone out on a few tuna boats, they all rock like mad. They don't seem to have much in the way of ballast and they're all VERY top heavy. Honestly I don't think the Mac is much worse, having been in the same conditions on it. But I don't get seasick so I'm probably not the best judge. Scares the bejesus out of the kids though. It's certainly SMALL, so I would stick to littoral waters with it.
An important criteria here I'm presuming is still trailer-ability, and you can't get much more beam on a boat that can still be trailered.
I wish Mr M would have done a Pilothouse motorsailer version of the M/X with a hard inclosed pilothouse. Would have to give up a fair bit of the aft berth headroom but it would be worth it, and a larger ballast tank. A nice comfy pilothouse area with a seat each side of the companionway with a tradional helm. Would have to raise the boom a bit so may have to have a smaller or different rig, but I'd quite happily give up a knot for what would be the most comfy trailerable family boat on the market (in this neck of the woods anyway). A couple more inches of beam would be nice too.
This thread may have already demonstrated why Roger might well hesitate to branch out - it describes 3 distinct alteration preferences:
1. serious recreational fishing boat
2. recreational trawler (ie. a low-speed motor-cruiser)
3. pilot-house sailboat
We use Kittiwake as a 'trailerable recreational trawler' by leaving the mast and rudders at home when trailering to isolated coastal locations for gunkholing and exploring. We reserve the sails for fun nearer home.
A lifetime sailor I know, who traded his trailer-sailor for a Beneteau some years back, still sighs occasionally and says, "every boat is a compromise".
Kittiwake
Never found the mac to be much of a fishing boat which is why we always drag the dinghy, that way the smell etc stays off the mac and just bring fillets aboard imho it's just a pain trying to fish off the high deck and get a fish landed, using as a mother ship works great.
Will be spending hopefully a month on the boat travelling down our Murray river without mast but will have the 12' alum dinghy for exploring and fishing and will wait till the tourists leave about the end of Jan.
Wow, a Crocodile-Dundee (Crocodile-Boblee) dinghy! I bet dinghy choice is right up there in the competition for 'Best Mac Mod': it sure adds a hugely to my enjoyment of the Mac ... but we 'compromised' on a small-but-solid inflatable.
Kittiwake
